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Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone! As a tribute to this special holiday, I’ve turned the Challenger Tennis site green. I do hope you like it.

So let’s have a look at Who’s Achieved Their Career Highs this week:

Player

NATIONALITY

Age

New High

Why

Bradley Klahn

USA

23

63

others lost points

Kenny de Schepper

FRA

26

66

others lost points

Jiri Vesely

CZE

20

73

Indian Wells R3

Alexandr Nedovyesov

KAZ

27

78

others lost points

Dominic Thiem

AUT

20

86

Indian Wells R3

Dusan Lajovic

SRB

23

89

Indian Wells Q

Norbert Gombos

SVK

23

164

Kazan QF

Farrukh Dustov

UZB

27

166

Kazan SF

Albano Olivetti

FRA

22

173

Kazan QF

John-Patrick Smith

AUS

25

198

IW Q/Irving FQR

Andrea Collarini

ARG

22

205

others lost points

David Souto

VEN

21

214

others lost points

Lorenzo Giustino

ITA

22

215

Spain F4 SF/F5 F

Ante Pavic

CRO

25

229

others lost points

Kimmer Coppejans

BEL

20

232

Turkey F5 QF/F6 F

Jarmere Jenkins

USA

23

235

others lost points

Axel Michon

FRA

23

238

Kazan R2

Jose Checa-Calvo

ESP

28

239

others lost points

Daniel Cox

GBR

23

243

GBR F6 QF

Emilio Gomez

ECU

22

249

others lost points

Juan Ignacio Londero

ARG

20

253

others lost points

Saketh Myneni

IND

26

258

India F2 W

Daniel Smethurst

GBR

23

270

Canada F1 W

The ultra-observant will notice that, in some cases, two different results appear on the “Why” axis of this week’s table. That’s because the ATP 1000 Native American Wells event runs two weeks* and so a double dose of results is accounted for in the ATP’s current rankings totals.

You also may have noted that a pair of 20-year-olds made semi-deep dips into the Wells this past week**. The Vessel, Jiri Vesely, put a scare into Andy Murray before succumbing in three sets in the third round, while The Denominator Dominic Thiem went out a trifle more meekly in R3 to Julian Benneteau. All in all, a good and full-of-fruit two weeks for both, since they also got diplomas from ATP University yesterday.

In interesting news of the more aged, 27-year-old father-of-three Farrukh Dustov has made a helluvan effort to push past a previous career high that was established nearly seven years ago in April of 2007. The 6’4” (193 cm) Uzbek with the booming serve has been hampered by injuries for the past three years, but is up nine spots to a new career high as a result of his Kazan Challenger semifinal showing.

Dust Storms His Way Into Three Straight Semis

After a two-loss start to 2014, Dustov has been the picture of consistency, reaching the semis of Astana, Cherbourg and Kazan in his last three tourneys. The 11-year pro still has his sights set on the Top 100, and at #166 is now one of the few Top 200 players whose professional ranking has eclipsed his ITF junior high mark.

One of the guys who has a two-week tally of results is JP Smith. The 25-year-old Aussie and former University of Tennessee standout had a good couple of qualifying weeks in Palm Springs and Irving — although he failed to capitalize on being up a break twice in the deciding set of his FQR match vs. Jimmy Wang in Irving — and thus finds himself up 21 spots in the rankings, breaking into the Top 200 for the very first time in his career.

Another rankings fortnight is now upon us, as the ATP 1000 Masters event in Miami gets underway today and takes us through the next 13 days, during which time the Rimouski, Panama City, Barranquilla and Guadalajara Challengers will also take place (as well as a zillion or so Futures events).

So we’ll see you again on the 31st of March with another stunning edition of the W.A.T.C.H. List.***

*really a week and 5/7ths

**In which case, bully for you.

***And maybe even publish another article or two before then. But no promises.

Another week, another W.A.T.C.H. List. So let’s see Who’s Achieved Their Career Highs this week:

Player

NATIONALITY

Age

New High

Why

Bradley Klahn

USA

23

64

others lost points

Kenny de Schepper

FRA

26

67

Cherbourg W

Aleksandr Nedovyesov

KAZ

27

79

others lost points

Dustin Brown

GER

29

89

Cherbourg QF

Victor Estrella

DOM

33

99

Salinas W

Blaz Rola

SLO

23

128

Guangzhou W

Norbert Gombos

SVK

23

166

Cherbourg F

Lucas Pouille

FRA

20

173

Cherbourg QF

Andrea Arnaboldi

ITA

26

177

others lost points

Albano Olivetti

FRA

22

179

Cherbourg QF

Andrea Collarini

ARG

22

207

Salinas F

Jarmere Jenkins

USA

23

241

Australia F1 W

Emilio Gomez

ECU

22

254

Salinas SF

Juan Ignacio Londero

ARG

20

257

Salinas QF

Yasutaka Uchiyama

JPN

21

273

Australia F1 SF

Jose Pereira

BRA

23

277

Salinas QF

Borna Coric

CRO

17

289

Croatia F2 SF

Andres Artunedo Martinavarro

ESP

20

293

Portugal F3 W

Dennis Novak

AUT

20

303

Egypt F6 W

Daniel Smethurst

GBR

23

305

Great Britian F5 W

I do enjoy it when all the week’s CHamps make the List. It hardly ever works out that way, but all three of this past week’s events — the €64,000 Cherbourg Challenger, the $50,000 Guangzhou Challenger and the $40,ooo Salinas Challenger — have titlists on a career ascendancy.

Which is especially impressive in the case of 33-year-old Victor Estrella, who has had a breakout month after kicking around the Top 300 for the past six years or so, reaching the Top 100 for the first time and becoming the first Dominican Republican* to do so.

In Estrella’s past month he’s gone 12/2 at the challenger level, getting progressively better at each tourney. He made the semis in Dallas (losing to Steve Johnson) and the finals in Morelos (l. Gerald Melzer) before finally taking the Salinas title last week, increasing his ranking 38 spots from No. 137 on the 3rd of February exactly one month ago.

Meanwhile, Blaz Rola, more commonly known as my fifth Player to Watch for 2014, rebounded from a tough Indian Swing with a new coach — during which he went 2/3 at Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi — by grabbing the Guangzhou trophy. The 23-year-old Slovenian, by way of THE Ohio State University, continues to cut a swath through the rankings table, having begun the year at No. 185.

The Schepper in His Scotstoun Days – Head And Schoulders Above the Rest

His win lifts the 6′ 8” (203 cm) lefty 17 spots in this week’s rankings, tying a Career High set September of last year.

Not to be overlooked is the man de Schepper vanquished in the final:

Norbert! Gombos!

Because: Norbert Gombos!

Lastly, I don’t want to overlook the efforts of the last man on today’s table, Mr. Daniel Smethurst, as he’s had a truly tremendous 2014 campaign thus far. The 23-year-old Brit has gone 22/3 this season, making the finals of all 5 events he’s entered in 2014 and taking two titles.

So Good It Hurst

I’ve been a Smethurst advocate since I saw him in worldbeater mode at the 2011 USA F2 Futuresin Tamarac, FL, against another Challenger Tennis fave, Marcos Giron. At the time, I wrote: “I can’t really see how he’s not a Top 250 player already. He’s certainly got the ability.”**

Well, he’s now on his way. Clearly ready to make the jump to the next level, he’s already proved his worth at challies, most recently with a singles semifinalist showing at the Champaign Challenger this past November. Can’t wait to see how he does from here.

Hola, Challenger Tennis fans! Apologies for the lateness of this week’s List, but I’ve been having some health challenges lately that have rendered writing sub-optimal of late. I have so many articles planned (and a couple half-written already), so please bear with me and hopefully this blog will bear more fruit sometime soon.

In the meantime, let’s have a look at Who’s Achieved Their Career Highs this week, shall we?**

Player

NATIONALITY

Age

New High

Why

Bradley Klahn

USA

23

65

others lost points

Aleksandr Nedovyesov

KAZ

27

81

New Delhi F

Dusan Lajovic

SRB

23

89

ATP 500 Rio Q/R2

Facundo Bagnis

ARG

23

112

ATP 500 Rio Q/R2

Victor Estrella

DOM

33

118

Morelos F

Blaz Rola

SLO

23

151

New Delhi R2

Gerald Melzer

AUT

23

153

Morelos W

Radu Albot

MDA

24

160

New Delhi QF

Lucas Pouille

FRA

20

184

New Delhi QF

Daniel Cox

GBR

23

243

New Delhi Q

Adrian Sikora

SVK

25

275

others lost points

Kyle Edmund

GBR

19

276

Croatia F1 W

Emilio Gomez

ECU

22

290

others lost points

Gabriel Alejandro Hidalgo

ARG

23

314

Argentina F3 W

Dennis Novak

AUT

20

332

Egypt F5 W

Nicolas Meister

USA

24

339

Morelos QF

Oliver Golding

GBR

20

354

Portugal F2 SF

Jason Jung

USA

24

355

Morelos R2

Alexey Vatutin

RUS

21

378

Astana Q

Markus Eriksson

SWE

24

393

Spain F2 SF

Stanislav Vovk

RUS

23

409

Portugal F2 W

The first player I’d like to talk about is Gerald Melzer, who is one of five 23-year-olds in the Top Seven of this week’s List (in addition to the amazing Victor Estrella, who is Achieving Career Highs a decade further into his career than all these whippersnappers, and Aleksandr Nedovyesov, who is 23 anyway per the Colette Lewis Collegiate Clause of 2014***).

He is also the younger brother of Jurgen Melzer, of course. And since Gerald is +42 in this week’s rankings while his older bro dropped two spots — in addition to the fact that Jojo has been sidelined with a shoulder injury and has yet to play in 2014 (he signed up to play in Acapulco but withdrew, and last played on the 9th of October, 2013) — I’m wondering when/if sometime in the future the Minimelz eclipses Melz the Maxi in the rankings.

“Yo, Bro, if you pass me in the rankings I’ll shove this ball down your throat.” – /expert lip reading

So much so that I’m making it a contest. That’s right: either in the comments here or on Twitter, give me the exact date upon which you think Gerald will overtake Jurgen in the rankings (or “never” if you don’t think it’ll ever happen). The person who ends up having the best/nearest guess will get to choose my Twitter avatar that week.

What a prize! What a contest! So get to guessing.

Speaking of Austrian tennis… Dennis Novak, the forgotten (or heretofore unknown) Günter Bresnik-coached cog of the Gulbis-Thiem-Dubarenco machine, took the fourth Futures title of his career at the Sharm El Sheikh event and proclaimed himself “super happy”. He’s is now 3 ranking spots ahead of Dubarenco, so remember him!

Tennis’s Number Two Novak Accepts His Bounty

Novak also won Egypt F6 (SPOILER ALERT), so will be on next week’s List as well. Oh, and if you’re confused by all of tennis’s Dennises, I wrote this oh-so-handy field guide so that you will no longer be baffled by the difference between Dennis Novak, Dennis Novikov and Dennis Nevolo. You’re welcome.

Since my esteemed Players to View series was rudely interrupted by the weekend, just as it was picking up some e-steam, I’m hoping that I can quickly get back up to speed by profiling a couple of speedsters today.

No Relation To Alejandro or Santi, Who Spell Their Surnames G-O-N-Z-A-L-E-Z

You know, for all our talk in tennis about forehands, backhands and volleys, the game is mostly about movement. After all, it doesn’t matter how good your shots are if you can’t get to the ball first.

When I first started getting serious about the sport, both from a playing and viewing perspective, I was obsessed with shotmaking. But these days, there’s nothing I enjoy more than watching a fleet-footed player glide and/or scrap his way around the court.

The two guys I’m profiling today are very similar players — not just fast, but fit, athletic and agile. Both righties in their early 20s, currently ranked in the mid-200s, they can crank serves and forehands (albeit a tad inconsistently) and are somewhat steady and even occasionally transitional with their double-handers. Once they figure out how to be more imposing and less defensive off the ground, they’ll start to have some very solid results, I believe.

Until such time as they become ATP Tour-level regulars, treat yourself to watching them motor around the court on the HD livestreams. There’s hardly anyone better to watch at the challenger level, movementally. Also, if you play the game yourself, you’ll find a lot that you can ingest and incorporate into your own play.

Ben Mitchell

I’ve been watching Ben buzz about the baseline since late 2009, when he’d just turned 17 and was playing the Australian Open Wildcard Playoffs. Shortly thereafter he made the Wimbledon Boys final as a qualifier, losing to Marton Fucsovics. I then got to see him blazing to the Bendigo Futures final in 2010, where he lost to Player to View Number One, Sam Groth.

I won’t bore you with all his results since then, but he’s somewhat stagnated after a blistering 60/20 first-year-as-a-pro season as an 18-year-old in 2011, during which he won four Futures titles and rose almost 400 spots in the rankings to No. 214.

Now 21, he currently sits at #250, which — while no longer precocious — is still good enough for Top 20 in his age group. He’s weathered a nine-match losing streak in 2012 and a six-match loss streak in 2013 to steady himself and start to get some decent results again.

But however unbalanced his recent results may have been, Ben is hardly ever off balance during a rally, keeping a wide base and bent knees as he careens about the court, his center of gravity low and constant as he seamlessly shifts between big and small steps, posture upright throughout.

Though hardly ideal, this YouTube vid shows a little of what I’m talking about with regard to his fluid footwork:

Another video of somewhat dodgy quality, but this is a very good match Ben played recently against countryman Luke Saville:

If you do nothing else, go to 17:30 in the above vid and watch the scrambling Mitch does in the far court.

The next chance to watch Ben will be at the Guangzhou Challenger next week.

This week’s W.A.T.C.H. List is pretty damn diversified, with players earning their points from ATP 500s and 250s all the way down to 10K Futures level. Something for everyone. My kind of List.

Interested? Well, then. Look below to see Who’s Achieved Their Career Highs this week:

Player

NATIONALITY

Age

New High

Why

Bradley Klahn

USA

23

66

others lost points

Jiri Vesely

CZE

20

77

ATP 250 Memphis R2

Aleksandr Nedovyesov

KAZ

27

92

Kolkata SF

Dominic Thiem

AUT

20

99

ATP 500 Rotterdam Q/R16

Pierre Hugues-Herbert

FRA

22

134

Quimper W

Yuki Bhambri

IND

21

143

Kolkata R2

Blaz Rola

SLO

23

152

others lost points

Hiroki Moriya

JPN

23

166

others lost points

Marton Fucsovics

HUN

22

173

Bergamo QF

Andrea Arnaboldi

ITA

26

180

Bergamo SF

Albano Olivetti

FRA

22

194

Quimper QF

Lorenzo Giustino

ITA

22

223

Bergamo R2

Daniel Cox

GBR

23

244

Kolkata R2

Adrian Sikora

SVK

25

277

ATP 500 Rotterdam QR2

Jose Pereira

BRA

23

298

Egypt F4 F

Stefano Travaglia

ITA

22

305

Egypt F4 W

Gabriel Alejandro Hidalgo

ARG

23

338

Argentina F2 F

Oliver Golding

GBR

20

362

Portugal F1 W

Ivan Arenas-Gualda

ESP

23

377

Portugal F1 SF

Federico Coria

ARG

21

386

Argentina F2 SF

Though it’s usually not in my harsh and uncompromising nature to feature “others-point-losers” in these here below-the-table write-ups, I just want to point out that out of the last 15 W.A.T.C.H. Lists, Mr. Bradley Klahn has been on 8 of them.

And only twice because others lost points. TraralgonChallenger finalist, Yeongwol Challenger winner, Yokohama Challenger semifinalist, Maui Challenger titlist, West Lakes Challenger champ — what an amazing four months it’s been for the former three-time Stanford All-American.

The Bradth of Klahn – Bradley with the West Lakes Trophy

Klahn now is firmly entrenched as the American #3 and is now only 69 ATPoints behind Sam Querrey for the #2 spot. He’s also advancing at such a consistent rate that he may soon be an ATP Tour-level player only, meaning he’ll no longer have a place on this site. *sniffle*

And third on this week’s List is another three-time All-American, this time from Oklahoma State, Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan (formerly Oleksandr Nedovyesov of the Ukraine, before he succumbed to the Kazakh Tennis Relocation Program), who was cold-cocked in the Kolkata Challenger semifinals by the Serbian lumberjack, Ilija Bozoljac.

Nedov Yes So Very Questionable Form Here

It was still enough to rise another spot on the ATP carte du jour, career highdom achieved. So, to professionally summarize the List so far: U.S. college tennis. Woot woot!